Not Alone
by Building Dreams
Summary: "Hush little one, no need for tears and no reasons to hold onto your fears. Because now, you are among family. You are not alone...and you never will be again..."
1. Overwhelmed

**Well, lookie here, ****_another _****new story. Hope you all like it!**

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Her doorwings twitched as she analyzed notes Ratchet had taken. Said medic stood at the monitor, working diligently at a project he had long been working on before she even came to Earth: synthetic energon. If he - with her assistance, of course - were to stabilize the formula of synthetic energon, then there would be no reason for the team to be scavenging anymore. Thus, this would leave them with more time fighting against the Decepticons and their newly added member - the Predacon.

The femme looked to the corner of her optic as she heard the heavy, but low rumbling of footsteps. In her view, she could make out the high shoulders of their commander, Ultra Magnus. His blue optics narrowed down as he stared, watching Ratchet type. The commander kept glaring down at the back of the medic, thinking that if he kept staring hard enough that Ratchet would work faster.

Looking further to the left, the femme could already tell that the chief medical officer was aware of Ultra Magnus' presence. His lips were moving, grumbling something that her audios couldn't catch. As he typed, she could see his servos shaking as well; the given sign that Ratchet could snap at any moment. Forget about the fact that Ultra Magnus was second-in-command and Optimus' key lieutenant, the medic would throw a wrench at almost anyone who intruded upon his comfort zone.

"Doctor, what is the current status of your synthetic energon experiments?" Ultra Magnus questioned, finally speaking after his long moment of glaring down the medical officer.

"Doing the best I can, commander," Ratchet answered, keeping his back turned on the fellow officer. "Given the lack of functional equipment at my disposal."

"You do realize that an alternative energy source may be essential to our survival," the lieutenant pressed. Her second-in-command's statement forced a silent, aggravated sigh from the femme. She knew, everyone did, and Ratchet most that their energon containment was low. And with the growing numbers of the team, what little they had of fuel left would be gone far sooner than they could scavenge.

"Believe me, Ultra Magnus," exclaimed Ratchet, now turning his helm to face the commander. His expression was with dim optics, optic ridges furrowed. He was in no mood to be irked from his work. Could their commander not tell by intervening on the medic kept him from his work, thus keep postponing the completion of the synthetic energon? "No one is more acutely aware of the stakes than I am."

Magnus seemed to flinch at Ratchet's backlash of his statement. Despite his disappointment of the shown disrespect, the commander knew when he was defeated. He also specifically knew not to continue an argument with the medic, as several dents in the helms of fellow team members - even Prime himself - told him so. Ratchet could make any tool, especially a wrench, a weapon and a source of pain.

"Of course." That was all the high-ranking officer could grunt out after his reign of silence. When Ratchet turned his back again on the commander, said officer looked to the femme absently minded looking down at a datapad. "Soldier, might I ask why you are not on patrol with the others?"

The femme nearly dropped the datapad she held in her servos. She looked up to Ultra Magnus to see that an optic ridge was raised and his arms were crossed, folded over his chassis. "Um...uh..See the thing is-Well, I am-" she fumbled over her words, trying to come up with a response to the impatient mech before her. Forget the notes, she lost track when she listened in on his and Ratchet's conversation.

"Catalyst is reviewing my findings that way she has a more define understanding of the project. She will be assisting me to ensure that the pace of completion is raised, sir," Ratchet answered for his assistant.

Ultra Magnus turned to Ratchet once more, though satisfied that the medic showed him the proper respect. "And what makes her qualified to accompany you in the completion of this project?"

"She has an extensive knowledge that I believe will benefit in finding the stabilized formula," the chief medical officer explained.

The commander hummed, resting his optics for a moment as he thought. What he was thinking, neither Catalyst nor Ratchet could tell. "Knowledge of what, exactly?"

"I trained in the field of medical science," Catalyst quickly answered just as Ratchet was about to speak. "Besides Ratchet, I am the only one on the team with that source of knowledge _and _qualified experience." Magnus' optic ridge rose only higher. Before he could question any further with his ponderous inquiries, the femme continued to speak. "My apologies for the interruption, sir, but as I understand that you want the experiments completed as soon as possible, correct? Well, we can not continue our work while you are intruding upon us with questions. If thus we can not continue our work, the longer it will take for us to finish the synthetic energon."

Ultra Magnus grew silent again before he straightened his posture and allowed his folded arms to fall back to his sides. "I see your point," he said, nodding. With one turn, the mech left to revere his attention to other matters.

Once sure that the commander was gone, Catalyst breathed out in relief. She then glared at Ratchet angrily, but he was too busy typing away to notice. Seeing that she was going to get no response from the medical officer, she rolled her optics and went back to reviewing notes. But, as much as she tried to concentrate, the nerve of Ratchet almost revealing her one secret, the secret that she trusted in only confining to Optimus and the fellow chief medical officer upon joining the team, to the commander kept her mind unsettled.

Her doorwings drooped a little as she sighed quietly to herself. She should have ditched the notes and gone on patrol. Despite the low Decepticon activity, a simple patrol across several sectors would have been good enough to clear her thoughts and put her processor at ease for her nerves were not the only thing troubling her.

In Ratchet's findings, numerous hypothesis, possible formula equations, long paragraphs of each failed trials, side notes to each said paragraph, reports of the few but interesting successes coming along were all too much to take in at once. But with the project being top priority, it was crucial that she learn everything she could before she helped in furthering the status of Project: Synth-En. Though, it boggled her with this much info how the medic still didn't have a stabilized equation by the time she crashed to Earth.

The sound of after-burners and the smell of burning fuel alerted to all at base that Optimus was back from his own patrol route. Nearly everyone, including Ratchet, flocked to Prime like moths to a flame. Each of them greeted their leader, happy to have returned well and alive.

_Now that Optimus is here, maybe I can go out for that drive..._Catalyst thought.

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All his hard work, time spent locked away in his lab, and expertise put into the Project: Predacon now had gone to waste. His processor split into two halves, one arguing over the other. One half told him that Megatron's justification of the termination of his project was logical. The beasts were meant to be mindless, controllable, only to act on instinct otherwise. But Predaking showed beyond that: intelligence, transformation, and ideals. Something with those traits and with traits that include quick to anger, just one would be obsolete to the Decepticon cause, to the success of Megatron. Though, the second half told him that Predaking was just the beginning. And experiments must be done more than once to provide logical data and evidence. Maybe, there was a way to switch off the genes in the CNA to leave only the beasts his leader wished for...

He buried the bicker between himself to the back of his mind, leaving the quarrel pointless - and it truly was. The future of the Predacon clones did not rely on what he preferred nor to what he thought, but to the word of his master. And if the termination of the clones was what he wanted, so be it.

Shockwave analyzed the plan as Starscream explained his (as he believed) devious scheme. In reality, the plot was simple, so simple that a mere sparkling delving themselves into child's play could have thought it up. Surely the Autobots would soon see the scheme that they Decepticons laid out for them. And, if they - the Autobots - with there mere common intellect could, so would Predaking be able to come to an understanding.

He narrowed his optic some before he gazed over to his leader. "Lord Megatron." The hard, blazing gaze of his master let him know that he had the warlord's full attention. "I have analyzed that Starscream's scheme does have it's...imperfections. The plot if the Autobots looked into it well enough, even with the amount of time it would take, would eventually find out of our deception. And if they are capable of finding out such truth, then the probability of Predaking alluding to that it was us that brought the end of the clones is just as likely."

"Then tell me, Shockwave, do you have a solution to this _assumption _of yours?" the warlord question, his hard gaze unfixing on his favored first lieutenant.

Said mech looked down to the ground, dimming his optic some as he fixated to finding an answer for Megatron...

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**Tell me what you think of this and if I should continue or not. Honestly, I would love to hear your thoughts.**


	2. Answers Soon To Come

**Wow! Big major thanks for all the reviews! I was not expecting so many on this story, in all honesty. But, again, thank you!**

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Ultra Magnus typed quickly, allowing his optics to wander from the computer and over his shoulder in case Ratchet came back from bashing out Bulkhead once again for breaking equipment _again. _When the yelling coming from the other room began to cease, the commander realized that time was running out. He needed to find what he was looking for before the medic poked his olfactory sensors where it shouldn't be. Though, where the first lieutenant was poking around, it was not someplace he should be looking into either.

His typing stopped and he skimmed through the list of files under the section _Team: Prime. _His optics wandered from the top of the list which started with Arcee and down from there. Bumblebee, Bulkhead...Catalyst. Clicking on her file, he began to read through her profile. His optics skimmed through the chosen file until they stopped, narrowing down at the one thing that stood out to him most...

"Ultra Magnus, just what are you doing?" Came the questioning voice of Ratchet, making the shoulders of the commander to tense up. "..._Sir." _the medic added for a twisted sense of humor to his anger.

Magnus exited Catalyst's profile and any signs that he had been skimming through said file. The commander turned away from the monitor, his form still tense as his gaze met that of Ratchet's. He could see in the medic's servo a wrench with flakes of green paint at one end he could see. Apparently, the chief medical officer gave Bulkhead more than a lecture for destroying some proclaimed _needed _equipment. One other thing apparent was that Ratchet was not in a good mood as the medic's arms were folded over his chassis, one servo tightly gripping his wrench, and optic ridges furrowed alongside his glare. It would be best not to push the officer over the edge...again, as he already fell over with the big green Wrecker.

Clearing his throat, Ultra Magnus gave the chief medical officer his long-awaited response. "I was reviewing the synthetic formula project to see if the course has moved along any further." In the back of his helm, the lieutenant silently pleaded that the medic would believe his lie. But, as he and the medic knew, deception was not an Autobot's highest quality.

Ratchet eyed Optimus' second-in-command skeptically before shaking his helm, making way past Ultra Magnus who immediately stepped out of his way. "Commander, if sufficient results came in _that _fast, then I would have finished this project way before even Smokescreen came crashing to Earth. Things such as this time, not an hour, sir."

"Understood," Ultra Magnus said, nodding. He turned and quickly left the doctor back to his work. He made his way passed the community of ruckus of the main room and to the groundbridge controls. Stopping at the switch and keypad, the commander opened a comm. link.

.:_Catalyst, report_.:.

Within not even a blink of an optic, the said femme replied. .:_Yes, sir?:. _

.:_You are hereby ordered back to base. Now.:. _

The grim tone in her commanding officer's voice and urgence to leave patrol gave off a sense of worry...and some fright to Catalyst. As far as she was aware, she had done nothing wrong. She was patrolling through several sectors, as she recalled that Ultra Magnus preferred that she do instead of reviewing Ratchet's notes. The question remained was, what did the commander want?

.:_But, sir, I have not finished my round of patrol. I still have quite a few sec-:. _

.:_Do not question my orders, soldier. When I give an order, I expect you follow them. Now, enter the groundbridge and we will discuss important matters that have to come to my attention and needs questioning.:. _

Catalyst would have questioned Ultra Magnus on part about the groundbridge, but a portal activating not far ahead of her uttered the femme silent. She sighed as the commander cut the comm. link between them, a sign to her that there would be no further discussion.

On the side of the groundbridge, the towering mech stood with his arms folded over his chassis and his expression stern. Well, more stern than it was usually. His optics had not deceived him what he read on the femme's profile. It baffled him that Prime had not take notice of it when she first joined the team. Or did he already know and just not care? Whatever the case maybe, it would seem so that it had not come to question with Catalyst. And if no one else was going to, Ultra Magnus would do his duty as an Autobot commander and first lieutenant to Optimus Prime, and question the defector.

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Shockwave watched the small beast float in the golden liquid within the tube it was sustained. The small form was curled up tightly, nearly a ball, as its wings folded over its form. The creature in stasis was tiny, even for a clone beginning to grow, and the Decepticon took note of it. In fact, the clone was so small that it would fit in the servo of the one-opticed mech. But, that would not be for long. Within just a few hours, the clone would be the size equivalent to that of a sparkling.

Checking the vitals and seeing that they were stable, the scientist left through a maze of synthetic energon cubes and out a door to a back room. Though he did not know when Starscream would stage the plan of the terminating of Project: Predacon, he would do his best to be prepared for it.

He stored the one clone that he was permitted to keep by Lord Megatron. But, the still-growing Predacon was a project all in its own. The tiny creature hidden away was to be made as a companion to the enraged Predaking, and also distract him from the truth that it was the Decepticon's that destroyed the clones.

By keeping the beast hidden in a well compacted room, the little one would be safe from capture and anything else if the scientist failed to retrieve her when the Autobots would come. The only thing left that kept Shockwave on edge was of one question: when were the Autobots coming?

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**So...What do you think? I would really like to know! Hey, keep reviewing and I'll keep up on my updating streak!**


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